NEW ORLEANS — The National Hurricane Center has issued tropical storm warnings for the Louisiana coastline from Intracoastal City eastward to the mouth of the Pearl River.
A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm winds in excess of 39 mph are expected within the next 36 hours.
While the system is not a tropical storm at the moment, there is no closed center of circulation, the system has an 80% chance of developing into Tropical Storm or Sub-tropical Storm Cindy in the next 48 hours. On the current track from the National Hurricane Center, the center of the storm will make landfall in western Louisiana. While this will spare our area from the threat of 40-50 mph winds located just east of the center, it does put our area at a greater risk of flooding.
Significant rainfall and flash flooding look to be the biggest factors that will affect our area beginning Tuesday evening and lasting through Thursday. Widespread amounts of 3-6″ are expected and some areas could see over 12″ of rain in the isolated areas where the heaviest bands of moisture fall. Because of this, the National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for our entire area through Thursday evening. Remember it doesn’t take a lot of rushing water to sweep your vehicle away. If you come across a flooded roadway, turn around and find an alternative route.
Stay tuned to WGNO and WGNO.com as any changes in the forecast track over the next few days could significantly change the impacts to our area.